The reading of Emerson on the Over-Soul, on the Law of Compensation, on the relationship between man and nature, on first principles and moral courage, self-realization, has had a formative influence on many readers. Often they first encounter his work by chance, but on reading him have gradually become confirmed Emersonians in their outlook. In the quiet of the Old Manse at Concord, Emerson could reflect at leisure and stretch the great wings of...

Daily inspiration from American philosopher and transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson Featuring excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays, poems, and lectures, Everyday Emerson offers 365 snippets of wisdom and insight from one of America’s greatest writers and philosophers. An astute observer of both nature and society, Emerson’s writing touches on themes of individuality, freedom, and human potential, all of it shot through with a profound...

Building on and enriching ideas set forth in "Self-Reliance", Emerson argues that true heroism is self-confidence and persistency in the face of corrosive pressures to conform to society.

In "Gifts" Ralph Waldo Emerson muses on the function of and expectations surrounding the giving of gifs. He touches on what gifts communicate about the nature of the giver and receiver, and how the best kind of gift is a gift of love.

In The Poet, an essay by U.S. writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, the author expresses the need for the United States to have its own new and unique poet to write about the new country's virtues and vices. It is not about men of poetical talents, or of industry and skill in meter, but of the true poet. After reading the essay, Walt Whitman consciously set out to answer Emerson's call. When the 1855 edition of Leaves Of Grass was first published, Whitman sent...

The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. Emerson argues that American culture, still heavily influenced by Europe, could build a new, distinctly American cultural identity. Emerson uses Transcendentalist and Romantic points of view to explain a true American scholar's relationship to nature. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. declared this speech to be America's Intellectual...

This version of Nature is an 1843 revision to the popular essay written and published in 1836. In the original essay, Emerson put forth the foundation of transcendentalism, and suggested that reality can be understood by studying nature. Within the essay, Emerson divides nature into four usages: Commodity, Beauty, Language and Discipline. These distinctions define how humans use nature for their basic needs, their desire for delight, their communication...

Originally published in 1961, the present volume is a collection of thoughts from the essays and journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, leader of the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. Subjects such as self-reliance, transcendentalism, nature as beauty, love and friendship, America and politics, and religions and sects are included.

Self-Reliance is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains a stirring call for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and to follow their own instincts and ideas. It contains one of Emerson's most famous quotations: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." The essay, possibly Emerson's most...

"Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds to the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether" Ralph Waldo Emerson, known as the father of Transcendentalism, rejected the puritan picture of human depravity and instead argued that people were inherently good. In these essays, titled 'Friendship', 'Love', 'Prudence', 'Heroism', 'Character' and 'Manners', Emerson claims that human connection and an...